L.A. THEATRE WORKS: THE PLAY'S THE THING: THE CRUCIBLE (RADIO)
Summary
One in this radio theater series featuring performances of plays before a live audience. This installment presents Arthur Miller's 1953 play in which the Salem witch trials in 1692 serve as an allegory about McCarthyism. As the drama begins, the local Reverend Parris discovers his daughter Betty, his niece Abigail, and several other village girls dancing half-naked in the forest late at night as part of a pagan ritual. Caught in the act, Betty and several of the other girls mysteriously take ill, and led by Abigail, claim to have seen the devil and begin reeling off the names of local villagers with whom they saw him. A mass hysteria sweeps through Salem, fed by the calculating Abigail and the fearful girls in her thrall; the cowardly, hypocritical Reverend Parris; and villagers who simply want someone or something to blame for their problems. John Proctor, an opponent of Parris's methods and the man who spurned ex-mistress Abbey's love, and Giles Corey, a farmer whose land is much sought after, along with their wives, are among those caught up in the witch hunt. Investigations, led by the Reverend Hale, an out-of-town expert on the subject of witchcraft, eventually expose the ulterior motives of the accusers; however, as the proceedings are presided over by Deputy Governor Danforth, a man more concerned with his public image than truth or justice, there is little hope for those under indictment. When, after a dozen hangings, Hale returns to Salem to beg the doomed prisoners to confess to save their lives, John Proctor is faced with a tortuous decision: to tell the truth and die, or give a false confession and live.
(Network affiliation varies: as above, 1987-2001; on KPCC, 2002-2004)
The acquisition and cataloging of The Arthur Miller Collection was made possible by The Laura Pels Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: NPR National Public Radio / KCRW-FM (Santa Monica, CA)
- DATE: April 10, 1988 Sunday 6:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:59:15
- COLOR/B&W: N/A
- CATALOG ID: R:11040
- GENRE: Radio - Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Arthur Miller Collection, The; Drama
- SERIES RUN: KCRW (Santa Monica, CA) - Radio series, 1987-2001
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Martin Jenkins … Producer, Director, of BBC Radio Drama
- Jerry Jones … Producer
- Rene Auberjonois … Co-Producer
- Susan Albert Loewenberg … Co-Producer
- Arthur Miller … Writer
- Michael York … Cast, Reverend Parris
- Judyann Elder … Cast, Tituba
- Madolyn Smith … Cast, Abigail Williams
- Ann Hearn … Cast, Susanna Walcott
- Marian Mercer … Cast, Ann Putnam
- Ed Begley … Cast, Thomas Putnam
- Irene Arranga … Cast, Mercy Lewis
- Carol Kane … Cast, Mary Warren
- Anna Sophie Loewenberg … Cast, Betty Parris
- Stacy Keach … Cast, John Proctor
- Hector Elizondo … Cast, Giles Corey
- Georgia Brown … Cast, Rebecca Nurse
- Richard Dreyfuss … Cast, Reverend Hale
- Fionnula Flanagan … Cast, Elizabeth Proctor
- Joe Spano … Cast, Francis Nurse
- Rene Auberjonois … Cast, Deputy Governor Danforth
- Franklyn Seales … Cast, Judge Hawthorne
- Jack Coleman … Cast, Herrick
- Bud Cort … Cast, Ezekial Cheever